Geography - Unit 2 - Topic 2 - Consuming Resources

Resources can be divided into three types:

• Natural resources - things found in natural world that are of use to us and that we have the technology and willingness to use.
• Human resources - skills of a population in a society.
• Material/capital resources - good and equipment already in place in a society.

Availability

• Non-renewable resources - coal, oil, diamonds - they exist in a fixed amount which is gradually or sometimes rapidly being used up.
• Sustainable resources - wood - can be deliberately renewed.  They can be managed so that they are usable now but will also last into the future.  Some sustainable resources - solar/wind power - renew themselves and do not need to be managed - RENEWABLE!

TAR-SAND OIL - NON RENEWABLE

 Enormous reserves of tar-sands, especially in Canada.  They have attracted more attention since oil prices have risen rapidly.

+ Are about 300 billion barrels of oil in the tar-sands.

+ Tar-oil extraction would make profits for major oil companies.

+ Tax benefits for countries with tar-sands.

+ Dependence on dangerous Middle Easter region would be reduced.

+ Continued production of oil would avoid costs of switching to other fuels, e.g H2.

- Produce up to 3X more CO2 than 'light' oils.

- Tar-oil extraction uses vast quantities of water - 6 barrels for each barrel of oil.

- Ancient spruce forests removed to scrape away oil-rich sands - pollution of             groundwater and river will be inevitable.

- Delays - need to search for alternative technologies.

BIOFUELS - SUSTAINABLE AND RENEWABLE

Several types of biofuels - best known are ethanol and bio-diesel.

+ CO2 absorbed when grown - BUT CO2 is released when…